ISLAMABAD, Dec 4: The Senate Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting on Thursday asked the government to reconcile regional quota of jobs at Pakistan Television (PTV) which of late had witnessed a number of discrepancies.

The committee met here at the Parliament House with Senator Liaquat Ali Bangulzai in the chair and also demanded of the Information Ministry to address the issue of ad hoc and daily wages employees of the national channel, who were demanding regularization of their services, said a statement issued by the Senate secretariat.

Federal Minister for Information, Sherry Rehman, present on the occasion, admitted that certain discrepancies had been found in the region-based employment quota in PTV, and steps would be taken to sort them out.

The Committee was given a detailed briefing on the appointments made in the PTV in different scales and grades. It was informed that there were 1468 temporary employees in pay group of 1 to 4 out of which 106 will be accommodated on vacant posts in different grades on the basis of their seniority.

The poor financial health of the channel also came under discussion during the meeting and the committee members asked the ministry to conduct an impartial audit of the organization from a reputable international audit firm to settle its accounts once and for all. At present the channel is facing serious financial crisis, and reportedly it is facing a deficit of Rs2 billion.

Senator Bangulzai pointed out that the PTV Bolan (Balochistan centre) was working without its general and programme managers, which needed to be filled without delay.

The committee agreed to the proposal given by Senator Haji Mohammad Adeel that the provincial TV centres should be made independent to come up with various programmes in local languages as it would help in projecting the local culture and customs of the society.

The committee also stressed the need to gear up its efforts for launching separate sports channel as soon as possible and to make improvement in the quality of entertainment programmes. The committee also called for appropriate coverage of the political activities of the opposition.

The meeting was attended by Senators Mir Mohammad Naseer Mengal, Tariq Azeem Khan, Mohammad Ali Durani, Dr Javed Leghari, Haji Mohammad Adeel, Syed Mohammad Hussain, Ms Tahira Latif and Maulana Sami-ul-Haq.